If one wants to define and put a perimeter around an identifying characteristic that pertains to an orator, this orator will be, in my opinion, someone so worthy of such onerous title as to be able to expound on any topic he comes across or anything that needs an explanation put into words carefully, coherently, elaborately, impromptu and with the complement of what you may call a dignified stage presence.

Can’t blag it: erudition, decorum, a confidence of speech, poise are the fruits of dedication and hard work.

… when people play with a ball with no gym equipment in sight, it is the very way they move that reveals whether they are trained athletes or not; or also, if someone’s doodling, even though they are not using oils or watercolours it isn’t difficult to tell if they are knowledgeable or not in the art of painting.

Shortly after reading this passage, a young graduate asked me for advise on her CV: “is there any harm in sprinkling a few white lies and embellishments here and there?”. I went to get the book, opened it and gave it to her, saying: “Let Cicero give you some advice from a long, long time ago, then draw your own conclusions”.

What should be demanded of a speaker? The sharpness of a logician, the thinking of a philosopher, the words of a poet, the memory of a lawyer, the intonation of a tragedian, the stage presence of the best of actors.

subsequently not only do you need to sort the findings according to order, but also distribute and sequence them according to timing and judgment;

then dress them up and embellish them in a speech;

once you have done that, commit them to memory;

finally act them out with with poise and elegance.

And having done and learnt this homework, before we start to put our argument forward, we must make initially put the audience at ease; then move on to demonstrate the case; afterwards we need to establish what is the bone of contention and move on to assert our objectives; later, we ought to reject any of the arguments against and conclude our speech emphasising and bigging-up all the points in our favour, while weakening and tearing to pieces those that may benefit our adversaries.

War of words: it’s not about who shouts the loudest. Follow the rules (no shortcuts!) for a chance to win.

As in a fast-moving ship, when the rowers stop, nonetheless the vessel retains its forward momentum despite the loss of energy and pull from the oars, so too in a flowing speech, when you can no longer refer to the written material, you can keep going by drawing inspiration and energy from what was written.

Ditto – I love the metaphor. This is precisely what I am doing with this blog post. #recursion.

Here’s someone, undoubtedly recognised as exceptionally gifted for his oratory power, to take as an example: Athenian Demosthenes, of whom it is said he worked so assiduously and with such effort to overcome natural impediments through diligence and hard work, given that at first he had a stammer so bad as to be unable to utter even the first letter of the art closest to his heart (“R”hetoric), but managed, through meditation, to get to the point where nobody would have been able to tell the difference between him and another speaker. Then, to compensate for his shallow breathing, he achieved the feat of holding his breath so much that – as his writings testify – in one oratorical period he could rise and lower his tone twice; who also, as the story goes, was used to placing pebbles in his mouth and then, in a single breath, recite many verses at the top of his voice… and this not even standing still, but walking and going up a steep slope.

No more excuses, but …remember to have a good party after your speech!!!